Largesse

Julie Bykowicz of AP writes about a conference that has been taking place this week in Dana Point, California. It is put on by Charles Koch of Koch brothers fame. Attendees were

450 business leaders — many among them top political contributors — and the elected officials who receive that largesse. They've been strategizing with officials at the education, policy and activist groups that Koch and his brother David have spent years building up and funding.

That network has a budget of $889 million through the end of 2016 — and much of it will be directed at electing a Republican to the White House.

As such, five GOP contenders spoke to the donor group, answering questions.

...The Koch donor conferences, held twice a year, are insular affairs.

Only those who have donated $100,000 or more to Koch-backed groups are invited. Yet even those deep-pocketed donors must check their mobile phones at the doors of some strategy sessions.

For the first time, a small number of reporters were invited to hear the 2016 candidates and attend some other forums. As a condition of attending, reporters were not permitted to identify any of the donors in attendance.

Most of the Koch-backed entities are nonprofits that do not have to disclose their donors. The two most politically active groups are American for Prosperity, which deploys activists to knock on doors and discuss issues important to the Kochs, and Freedom Partners, which has a super PAC that can spend directly on elections.

Although leaders for those two groups say they aren't endorsing anyone in the GOP primary, donors at the retreat have the ability to write million-dollar checks to boost a candidate's chances.

Read more here.